At a time when happiness is often equated with comfort, stability, or financial security, Happiness Happens offers an honest, unsettling perspective. Written by Robin Singh, founder of Himachal-based animal rescue and awareness organisation Peepal Farm, the book suggests that happiness is not something to chase. Instead, it emerges when life finds purpose—especially a purpose that reduces suffering, both our own and that of others.
This is not a conventional self-help book. There are no formulas, no guarantees, and no promises of instant transformation. Singh writes from experience, exploring why a life that seems successful on the outside can feel hollow on the inside, and what it takes to create real meaning.
Robin Singh/Facebook
On paper, Singh had it all. He was settled in the United States, financially secure, married, and professionally successful. Yet he admits, with striking honesty, that he was unhappy and, at times, suicidal. He examines this carefully, showing how misery can persist even when comfort and freedom are present. The answer, he discovers, is not achievement but meaning. As Viktor Frankl observed, “Suffering ceases to be suffering when it finds meaning.” Once life is anchored to a purpose, even hardship becomes bearable.
Singh recounts his childhood and early adulthood with unflinching honesty—from growing up in a volatile household to surviving a suicide attempt as a teenager. Later, in 2010, despite having everything he thought would bring happiness, he still felt unfulfilled. What changed was engagement. Walking away from a predictable career, he eventually built Peepal Farm, a sanctuary that rescues and rehabilitates animals in the Himalayan foothills. He clarifies that he did not set out to save the world. Instead, he discovered that reducing suffering, wherever possible, gave his life coherence.
Crucially, Singh stresses that our responsibility is limited to our actions, not others’ reactions. He writes about leaving behind a comfortable life, initially without his wife Shivani, and how she eventually joined him after six months, finding her own purpose alongside his.
Robin Singh/Facebook
Happiness and doing good are not always immediately gratifying. Singh acknowledges the discomfort, guilt, and uncertainty that accompany tough choices, showing that meaningful action is often difficult before it becomes rewarding.
The book also reflects on how most of us are trained to become professionals, but not fully formed human beings. Singh argues that cultivating a purposeful life reduces physical, emotional, and existential suffering. By focusing on a unifying purpose, we align actions with intention, temper cravings, and learn emotional resilience. He chooses to help those who cannot help themselves, a universal framework that applies across species, echoing the golden rule: do not cause suffering, and alleviate it when you can.
Robin Singh/Facebook
The writing is conversational and candid, never preachy. Singh admits uncertainty, allowing readers to draw their own conclusions. Quoting Andrei Tarkovsky, “A book read by a thousand different people is a thousand different books,” Singh invites personal interpretation while remaining grounded in real experience.
Happiness Happens is for anyone feeling unmoored despite outward success, questioning whether conventional milestones bring contentment. It does not promise constant bliss. Instead, it offers a gentler, more attainable hope: when life is lived with purpose, even suffering changes its meaning. Happiness then does not need to be chased—it simply, slowly, begins to happen.
